I knew that the way her machine was sending was perhaps technically less distance, but it was winding back roads with stop lights and would take longer than the route that took us a little out of our way, but quickly got to a main highway.

For what it's worth, I think it's rarely rude to add new information to a situation, and the phrasing the OP used here establishes her credibility -- she explains not just that the route is wrong, but also why. If I had a passenger who disagreed with my GPS and gave such a concrete, logical reason, I would of course follow the passenger. However, if the phrasing were more like: "Hm, this doesn't seem right" or "I usually go a different way," I'd be inclined to follow my GPS. I don't think it's at all rude to disagree with the GPS (once, at least), but I think pragmatically, the more precisely you phrase your objection, the more likely the driver is to understand your proposed route as a concrete suggestion, rather than a "ha, isn't technology funny?" comment that's more conversational than action-oriented.

If I really do know all the ins and outs of the area, and the other person is unfamiliar, I just say outright, "Oh, don't go that way....it'll take you through every red light and traffic jam possible. Go right here and head up to the highway..."

If they know you live there and travel the route all the time, they're usually pretty happy to take directions in my experience.

I had one guy trying to find my place to pick up his wife who was visiting me, and he had to phone several times, lost and confused and frustrated, and I had a heck of a time figuring out where he was to give him directions because he kept saying he was on my street. Well he wasn't. My street came to a dead end, turned into a TRAIL through the woods (about a 10 minute walk) before emerging onto a continuation of the street on the other side of the woods. You can't drive through it. The GPS seemed to be telling him the whole thing was a road, and he was approaching from the wrong side. He wasn't really listening to my directions because "the GPS says...." Well the GPS was WRONG.

My house is not on the street, but rather on a privately-owned alley (owned by my HOA). I've found that Garmin and TomTom will give people directions to the location on the street that mathematically matches up to my house number (i.e. if my house number is 5510, then it'll give the location 1/10th of the way between 55th ave and 56th ave, on the even side), rather than where my house actually is. Google Maps, on the other hand, will put you right in my driveway.

If I offer someone directions to my house and they decline and indicate that they'll just use GPS, I will ask wbat brand of GPS they're using (or which app on their smart-phone). If they say anything other than Google Maps, I'll warn them that the GPS probably won't actually get them to my driveway, as I live on an alley.

On the other hand, when someone is behind the wheel, I think they get to decide whether to follow their GPS or passenger-supplied directions, and that once the driver asks/tells the passenger to be quiet and stop giving directions, the passenger is obliged to stop.

There is a setting in most gps to choose either fast or short route. I have mine set to fast bc that *usually* takes via freeways and not the slow boat lots of lights route which is usually shorter but takes more time.

I live not far off the highway. Friends have used their GPS to get here, but requested city streets instead of highway, and it took them forever. So I think the choice makes a difference.

I had one guy call into me at the airport and request our address for the GPS and his GPS did not acknowledge it. He actually argued with me that I gave him the wrong address. (I've worked here for almost 15 years, so I think I know it!)

On a fun note, I rode with my daughter to a birthday party. Construction was going on, so the GPS showed us going through a field while taking a detour, and it kept yelling at us to take a left and get back on the highway!

Construction was going on, so the GPS showed us going through a field while taking a detour, and it kept yelling at us to take a left and get back on the highway!

I'm just imagining the GPS as a real person "Why are you in a field? What is wrong with you! Get on the road!!! GET ON THE ROAD!!!"

One time we were going to a club with two of our friends, my bff and her husband, BFF was driving there husband driving back (he doesn't drink). So I know...vaguely where it is, but I'd never been the one driving so my directions weren't so great, so we use her GPS. About halfway there I realize the GPS is making us take the longest way possible, but it's a little too late to go back. When we actually get close to the area it keeps sending us to the wrong club. Finally she says "Look, you have a pleasing British accent and all, but you're a moron right now so I'm not gonna listen to you!" and rolled down her window to ask a guy on the street who not only knew how to get there, but also the best place for us to park. Nice guy.

My Garmin GPS does not, for some reason, recognize either my home address or my work address as a real address, so I very early gave up expected GPSs to bring me to more than "somewhere within a block or so" of the address.

Logged

My cousin's memoir of love and loneliness while raising a child with multiple disabilities will be out on Amazon soon! Know the Night, by Maria Mutch, has been called "full of hope, light, and companionship for surviving the small hours of the night."

This thread makes me snicker because I am old-fashinoed, and while I have quite a few "techy" devices, smart phone, ipad, etc. I do not have a dedicated GPS. I actually prefer a combo of looking at a map, and then checking out directions online say from Google maps or something like that, and comparing the two.

I've heard too many stories of people relying solely on their GPS, when it as incorrect, and driving in circles for a long time, beacuse they will ONLY believe the GPS, and since its more advanced, its the better and only way.

My one cousin drove from MD to VA to visit my mom. She used to live in a rather large development, with a number of manned gates to enter. But only one had an actual human; just off the main entrance, and the rest were for residents only, and scattered throughout, for use with their access cards. So he puts the address in, and it took him all around to various, unmanned gates,but never to the main gate. After literally a couple of hours, he fianlly called my mom, and told her he was hopelessly lost, and his GPS wasn't helping.

Now, had he simply asked her for directions, once you got off the main road, it was someting like 2 turns, and very easy to find. But no, he knew better, and it cost him time and aggrevation.

If I'm heading someplace unfamiliar, I'm only likely to follow a passenger's directions over the GPS if I know that the passenger isn't going to get distracted by conversation in the middle of the drive and forget several steps, ending up with us lost. I've had far too many trips where the passenger knew where s/he was going but forgot to tell me about turns until the last possible minute or until we were past them.

If I'm heading someplace unfamiliar, I'm only likely to follow a passenger's directions over the GPS if I know that the passenger isn't going to get distracted by conversation in the middle of the drive and forget several steps, ending up with us lost. I've had far too many trips where the passenger knew where s/he was going but forgot to tell me about turns until the last possible minute or until we were past them.